The following photos are from those experiences, but also random photos from my last days in Chiang Mai.
'Garrr haawk!!!' (Squirrel in Thai)
Believe me....the list is long. Maybe at the end of my travels I'll make a list of how to say 'squirrel' in all the different languages I can say it in...I think it's around 20 now.
I figured since this blog is supposed to also have squirrel content in it, it is about time I show some more squirrels!
Teaching English outdoors at Wat Chedi Luang with a monk student from Wat Phan Aon.
A funeral procession at Wat Chedi Luang.
The parking lots of shopping malls are filled with row after row of motorbikes. Such a smart and pratical alternative to SUVs and cars like in the US. We really should take the hint.
This photo is of the Buddhist university Wat Suan Dok where some of the monks with whom I am friends (and teach) attend.
A group of the Cambodian monks that help Leang with the Sunday Dharma talk at Wat Phan Aon. Most of these guys attend Wat Suan Dok.
I would visit this same soup stand every evening after teaching English in Chiang Mai. The family doesn't speak any English but I picked up a bit of Thai so we could communicate. They too began calling me 'Dton Sai Thong'.
Dinner is served!!! And it is oh, SOOOOO tastey!
This is me enjoying my favorite noodle soup with chicken. In Thai it's called 'qway teaow tom kai'.
The following photos are of Wat Umong which is located in the forest on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. It is a famous international meditation center where people can come and stay and learn to meditate from the monks that live here.
This is the housing for the novices and the newly ordained monks. The senior monks have private housing located thoughout the forest and along the lake.
A strange little bug that I found walking along the back of the bench that one of the monks was sitting on. We were all interested in it and observed it for awhile. The two things sticking up are actually on its back end. When we would get close it would turn away and face its butt at us in order to look more intimidating to predators.
It reminds me of the little white insect that a group of us found at dinner in Ton Sai. Check out that blog for the photo of it.
This is a photo of Phra Leang and I visiting a monk friend of ours for the day and spent awhile meditating as well.
Beautiful flowers that fell from a tree. It was a flowering tree...a 'dok mai/dton mai'. It is my favorite flower I have seen in Asia so far.
Since I stayed another week in Chiang Mai, I helped the monk students with their studies since final exams were approaching. I decided to stay until Leang and Sanan's exams were over since I had been working with them the majority of the time.
I learned that after exams many of the students would be returning home to visit their families because they would have a 3 month break. Phra Sanan is Thai and is from the north. He will take a bus about 8-10 hours to return home. Phra Leang would be journeying home to Cambodia to visit his mom, but first will stop in eastern Thailand where his old temple is where he lived and went to high school. His old Abbot there needs assistance with novices, as he is the only monk at that temple currently. Leang agreed to go for a couple weeks and help out and teach the novices.
I would be leaving to Laos after their exams were over, and I asked Leang if he would like to join me to Laos on his way to his old temple.He asked permission since traveling with a woman is not allowed. His Abbot said it was okay, but we could not sit together on transportation, we cannot touch eachother, we cannot sit together while eating, we cannot stay at same guesthouses; he has to stay at temples. We are allowed to sight-see in groups though, but never alone. There are many rules for monks, and after many discussions about this we made arrangements.
The following week we would be heading to Laos...
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